A "Very Hungry" birthday party

For W's first birthday party, I decided to do a The Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party. The idea was given to me by none other than the party mistress herself, Michelle. I've always loved the Eric Carle book, and thought it was a super-cute theme, so the idea for W's party was born.

With my vacation, moving, and all the other late-October craziness, party planning got pushed to the last minute. The guest list was also greatly reduced by illness by the time the party actually started. Even so, it turned out great.

These are the signs I made to put on the food table. My mom forgot to buy holders for them when she was out shopping on party day, so they didn't have nearly the impact I was hoping for.

The spread. The food was inspired by what the caterpillar ate in the book. We didn't have any "leaves," though, because my younger sister-in-law, who was supposed to be bringing the salad, was too hungover sick to make it to the party.

For favors, I made these tye-dyed cookie sandwiches. I also made caterpillar suckers inspired by the one above I found at Whimsical Boutique. Somehow, I managed to forget to take a picture of them. They were all green with a red head. They were super cute. P.S. Blue raspberry Tootsie Pops? Who thought that was a good idea?

The cake that I made (with a bit of assistance from one of my mom's friends). The big caterpillar was inspired by this cake. The little yellow was was W's personal cake (done entirely by me!). I decided that red frosting was not the best idea for the baby to dig into.

Here's the little dude enjoying his birthday cake. He loooooooves frosting. The cake he could take or leave. But the frosting, LOVES it.

The balloon caterpillar (stolen from here) that was pretty much our only decoration. My mom put the face on it with a sharpie before I had a chance to do something cuter.

And finally, one of the pictures of Mr. W opening his presents. Despite the way he looks intensely interested in opening gifts, he really couldn't have cared less. Every time he opened another loud noisy obnoxious thoughtful present, he got distracted by it, and chose to play with it instead of continuing on with the other gifts.

The party was small (just immediate family), but it was tons of fun. Everyone enjoyed themselves, the babies all had a great time playing together, and I was so exhausted when it was all said and done that I couldn't even drive home from my mom's house that night. All-in-all, it was a very hungry success.